Aberavon_(UK_Parliament

Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency)

Aberavon
County constituency

Aberavon shown within Wales

Created: 1918

MP: Hywel Francis

Party: Labour

Type: House of Commons

Preserved county: West Glamorgan

EP constituency: Wales

Aberavon is a constituency in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1918 general election and returns one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system. The seat has been held by the Labour Party since its creation, and for seven years was held by Ramsay MacDonald, the Prime Minister in 1924 and from 1929 to 1935.

1 Boundaries
2 History
3 Members of Parliament
4 Elections
- 4.1 1940s
- 4.2 1950s
- 4.3 1960s
- 4.4 1970s
- 4.5 1980s
- 4.6 1990s
- 4.7 2000s
5 References

Boundaries

The constituency is in south Wales, situated on the right bank of the River Afan, near its mouth in Swansea Bay. The constituency includes the wards of Aberavon, Baglan, Briton Ferry East, Briton Ferry West, Bryn and Cwmavon, Coedffranc Central, Coedffranc North, Coedffranc West, Cymmer, Glyncorrwg, Gwynfi, Margam, Port Talbot, Sandfields East, Sandfields West and Tai-bach.

History

The owners of Aberavon's castle established a chartered town, which in 1372 received a further charter from Edward le Despencer, 1st Baron le Despencer. In modern times these charters were not acted upon, the town being deemed a borough by prescription, but in 1861 it was incorporated under the Municipal Corporations Act. From 1832 it belonged to the Swansea District constituency, uniting with Kenfig, Loughor, Neath and Swansea to return one member; later it acquired its own MP.

Members of Parliament

Constituency created (1918)

	Member	Party
1918	John Edwards	Labour
1922	Ramsay MacDonald	Labour
1929	William Cove	Labour
1959	John Morris	Labour
2001	Hywel Francis	Labour

Elections

1940s

General Election, 5 July 1945
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Cove	31,286	72.51
	Conservative	DT Llewellyn	11,860	27.49
Majority			19,426	45.02
Turnout			43,146	79.42
	Labour hold		Swing

1950s

General Election, 23 February 1950
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Cove	29,278	68.68	−3.83
	Conservative	A Herbert	8,091	18.98	−8.51
	Liberal	JM Thomas	5,263	12.35	N/A
Majority			21,187	49.70	+4.68
Turnout			42,634	85.84	+6.42
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 25 October 1951
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Cove	30,498	71.97	+3.29
	Conservative	JW Loveridge	11,878	28.03	+9.05
Majority			18,620	43.94	−5.76
Turnout			42,376	84.63	−1.21
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 26 May 1955
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	William Cove	29,003	69.54	−2.43
	Conservative	REG Howe	12,706	30.46	+2.43
Majority			16,297	39.07	−4.87
Turnout			41,709	79.27	−5.36
	Labour hold		Swing	−2.43

General Election, 8 October 1959
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	30,397	65.76	−3.78
	Conservative	REG Howe	12,759	27.60	−2.86
	Plaid Cymru	IM Lewis	3,066	6.63	N/A
Majority			17,638	38.16	−0.91
Turnout			46,222	82.08	+2.81
	Labour hold		Swing

1960s

General Election, 15 October 1964
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	33,103	72.11	+6.35
	Conservative	JS Thomas	9,424	20.53	−7.07
	Plaid Cymru	G John	2,118	4.61	−2.02
	Communist	JT Hart	1,260	2.74	N/A
Majority			23,679	51.58	+13.42
Turnout			45,905	80.85	−1.23
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 31 March 1966
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	33,763	75.44	+3.33
	Conservative	R Hicks	9,369	20.94	+0.41
	Communist	JT Hart	1,620	3.62	+0.88
Majority			24,394	54.51	+2.93
Turnout			45,146	78.27	−2.58
	Labour hold		Swing

1970s

General Election, 18 June 1970
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	31,314	66.99	−8.45
	Conservative	I Grist	10,419	22.29	+1.35
	Plaid Cymru	G Farmer	3,912	8.37	N/A
	Communist	JT Hart	1,102	2.36	−1.26
Majority			20,895	44.70	−9.81
Turnout			46,747	74.78	−3.49
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 28 February 1974
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	31,656	65.24	−1.75
	Conservative	Peter Hubbard-Miles	10,968	22.60	+0.31
	Plaid Cymru	DG Foster	5,898	12.16	+3.79
Majority			20,688	42.64	−2.06
Turnout			48,522	75.62	+0.84
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 10 October 1974
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	29,683	62.82	−2.42
	Conservative	NK Hammond	7,931	16.78	−5.82
	Liberal	S Cutts	5,178	10.96	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	G Thomas	4,032	8.53	−3.63
	Workers' Revolutionary	J Bevan	427	0.90	N/A
Majority			21,752	46.04	+3.40
Turnout			47,251	73.07	−2.55
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 3 May 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	31,665	61.68	−1.14
	Conservative	F McCarthy	12,692	24.72	+7.94
	Liberal	SM Cutts	4,624	9.01	−1.95
	Plaid Cymru	G Thomas	1,954	3.81	−4.72
	Communist	G Rowden	406	0.79	N/A
Majority			18,973	36.95	−9.09
Turnout			47,179	79.15	+6.08
	Labour hold		Swing

1980s

General Election, 9 June 1983
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	23,745	58.75	−2.93
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	S Cutts	8,206	20.30	+11.29
	Conservative	G Bailey	6,605	16.34	−8.38
	Plaid Cymru	G Phillips	1,859	4.6	+0.79
Majority			15,539	38.45	+1.5
Turnout			40,415	75.62	−3.53
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 11 June 1987
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	27,126	66.77	+8.02
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	M Harris	6,517	16.04	−4.26
	Conservative	P Warwick	5,861	14.43	−1.91
	Plaid Cymru	A Howells	1,124	2.77	−1.83
Majority			20,609	50.73	+12.28
Turnout			40,628	77.71	+2.09
	Labour hold		Swing

1990s

General Election, 9 April 1992
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	26,877	67.08	+0.31
	Conservative	H Williams	5,567	13.89	−0.54
	Liberal Democrat	M Harris	4,999	12.48	−3.56
	Plaid Cymru	D Saunders	1,919	4.79	+2.02
	Real Bean	Captain Beany	707	1.76	N/A
Majority			21,310	53.18	+2.45
Turnout			40,069	77.58	−0.13
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 1 May 1997
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Morris	25,650	71.3	+4.22
	Liberal Democrat	Ronald McConville	4,079	11.3	−1.18
	Conservative	Peter Harper	2,835	7.9	−5.99
	Plaid Cymru	Philip Cockwell	2,088	5.8	+1.01
	Referendum Party	Peter David	970	2.7	N/A
	Independent	Captain Beany	341	1.0	−0.76
Majority			21,571	62.8	+9.62
Turnout			35,963	71.9	−5.68
	Labour hold		Swing

2000s

General Election, 7 June 2001
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hywel Francis	19,063	63.1	-8.2
	Plaid Cymru	Lisa Turnbull	2,955	9.8	+4.0
	Liberal Democrat	Chris Davies	2,933	9.7	-1.6
	Conservative	Ali Miraj	2,296	7.6	-0.3
	Independent	Andrew Tutton	1,960	6.5	N/A
	New Millennium Bean	Captain Beany	727	2.4	+1.4
	Socialist Alliance	Martin Chapman	256	0.8	N/A
Majority			16,108	53.3	−9.5
Turnout			30,190	61.0	-10.9
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election, 5 May 2005
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Hywel Francis	18,077	60.0	-3.1
	Liberal Democrat	Claire Waller	4,140	13.8	+4.0
	Plaid Cymru	Philip Evans	3,545	11.8	+2.1
	Conservative	Annunziata Rees-Mogg	3,064	10.2	+2.6
	Veritas	Jim Wright	768	2.6	N/A
	Green	Miranda La Vey	510	1.7	N/A
Majority			13,937	46.3	-7.1
Turnout			30,104	58.9	-1.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-3.6

References

Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
Richard Kimber (2008). "UK General Elections since 1832 UK General Elections since 1832". psr.keele.ac.uk. Retrieved on 2008-06-23.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Bewdley	Constituency represented by the Prime Minister 22 January 1924 – 4 November 1924	Succeeded by Bewdley

v • d • e Constituencies in Wales

Labour	Aberavon · Alyn and Deeside · Bridgend · Caerphilly · Cardiff North · Cardiff South and Penarth · Cardiff West · Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire · Clwyd South · Conwy · Cynon Valley · Delyn · Gower · Islwyn · Llanelli · Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney · Neath · Newport East · Newport West · Ogmore · Pontypridd · Rhondda · Swansea East · Swansea West · Torfaen · Vale of Clwyd · Vale of Glamorgan · Wrexham · Ynys Môn

Liberal Democrat	Brecon and Radnorshire · Cardiff Central · Ceredigion · Montgomeryshire

Conservative	Clwyd West · Monmouth · Preseli Pembrokeshire

Plaid Cymru	Caernarfon · Carmarthen East and Dinefwr · Meirionnydd Nant Conwy

Independent	Blaenau Gwent

Wales European constituency: Labour (2) · Conservative (1) · Plaid Cymru (1)

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